First NYC Medical Marijuana Dispensary Will Open in January

New York City’s first medical marijuana dispensary is set to open January 2016 in Manhattan just off Union Square.

According to NBC News, the dispensary will be located on 14th Street between Second and Third Avenues and will be run by Columbia Care—a NYC-based company that was awarded one of the state’s five medicinal marijuana licenses back in July.

“We hope to move as closely to a pharmaceutical manufacturing process as we can,” Columbia Care CEO Nicholas Vita said.

New York state’s medical marijuana program has received a lot of criticism since it was signed into law last year due to its extremely restrictive nature. Not only does the law fail to cover a broad scope of conditions, it also limits the use of cannabis to liquid and oil that can be consumed orally or through a tube.